DOJ and Lincoln County reports released from July shooting and chase involving Antigo officer (w/ video)

By Craig Marx, Editor

The Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office recently released their follow-up reports of the incident that occurred on July 26, 2016 involving suspect Scot Minard, a man that shot at Antigo Police Department Patrolman Joe Husnick during an early morning traffic stop before taking off towards Merrill with law enforcement in high-speed pursuit.

Minard’s vehicle was stopped after spike strips were employed and blew out the front two tires of the suspect’s car near the Pine River Bridge in Lincoln County. After a brief standoff east of the city of Merrill with members of multiple law enforcement agencies, Minard, now armed with a 12-guage shotgun and waiting near the front of his vehicle, was taken out after repeated attempts from police to remedy the situation using discussion failed.

At approximately 7:50 am, nearly an hour and half after parking his damaged car, an armored police vehicle approached Minard. The suspect then raised his gun and said something vaguely resembling, “Is this enough to make you shoot me?” According to video from the police vehicle, it appeared Minard fired at officers based on “smoke emanating from his position and there is a sound of a different type of weapon.”

The four law enforcement officers actively engaged with Minard fired a total of 26 shots to neutralize the suspect, according to the report. A partially-ejected shell was found in the deceased suspect's shotgun, along with three unfired shells in the magazine.

A later blood analysis indicated that Minard had multiple controlled substances in his system at the time of his death, including cocaine, hydrocodone, THC, amphetamines, methamphetamines, fentanyl, opiates, and a blood alcohol level of .094.

The incident began when Husnick pulled over Minard near the Antigo Hotel at 6:16 am for expired license plates. After running the plate information itself, Husnick discovered the plates did not match Minard’s Acura SUV. With the stoppage being recorded on Husnick’s squad car camera, Minard “can be seen leaning out the driver side window with a handgun and firing two shots at Officer Husnick,” according to the reports.

Husnick was unharmed during the incident and after a period of paid leave is back to work on the Antigo force.

Two .22 caliber shell casings were recovered at the scene that matched those of a stolen handgun that was later found near Minard’s body. As the suspect fled the scene westbound on Hwy. 64, officers of Antigo and Langlade County law enforcement, later joined by Lincoln County officers, pursued Minard at speeds up to and including 120 miles per hour.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jeff Jaeger provided a press conference on Tuesday morning to field questions concerning the recently released reports.

“I believe the officers involved reacted appropriately and as they were trained,” Jaeger commented.

Here is a near-complete video of Sheriff Jaeger's press conference earlier today provided by Jeremy Ratliff of the Merrill Foto News:

https://youtu.be/62D7SNGI67c

For more information and the full DOJ report, please visit www.doj.state.wi.us .